We are rounding out the year with a really important cause and a bumper line up of superstar talent.The event is Monday November 19th (tickets here), to raise money and awareness for Strides for Peace (more info here) at Uncommon Ground in Edgewater (1401 Devon Ave) starting at 7:30pm.

CACTA teamed up with the League of Women Voters of Chicago on September 29 & 30 at the Edgewater Arts Festival, to register people to vote in the upcoming midterms. The tireless work of a dedicated group of 30 volunteers, including Anne Smith, Paula Baron, Ben Veatch, Eileen Vorbach, Anne Jacques and Johnnie Anderson, who oversaw and facilitated the volunteer activity, resulted in 80 new registered voters this weekend and increased awareness of the upcoming elections and how important it is to vote.

We are so proud of the volunteers’ commitment to helping others learn more about how they can vote this November and getting them that much closer through registration. Special thanks to Rae Ann Cecrle, the Chair of the festival for accommodating us with a table and shelter from the rain. We will be holding more events closer to the election to support important missions that aim to protect our democracy and inspire us to the polls, so keep in touch. And make sure you are registered!

Thank you ALL!

REMINDER ELECTIONS ARE ON Tuesday, November 6, 2018 — and in most places you can vote early or by post.

Last April we held an amazing evening to benefit and raise awareness of a whole range of issues concerning the health of the planet. We raised $1,400 for the NRDC (Natural Resource Defence Council). They are now, as a result of current legislation and proposed repeal of existing legislation busier than ever and they need our CACTA help.

Come and join esteemed Director Steve Scott and a whole host of extremely talented people back at Uncommon Ground in Edgewater on September 24th. More information coming soon, put the date in your diaries.

A packed house joined us at Uncommon Ground to come together to help end child sexual abuse. Songs and stories from a large cast of talented Chicago performers joined Emcees Sara Sevigny and Corbette Pasko to create an inspiring evening and raise $1,100 for Childhood Fractured. More details and photos, by the wonderful Nomee, here.

All the performers gave their talent and time for free to help raise awareness of child abuse and help raise funds to end it.

We are in the heart of the Theatre District on Belmont for an evening of musical, education and theatre. Find out how you can play your part in going green, defending the great lakes and helping to sustain our beautiful planet. Doors open at 7pm at Theatre Wit (1229 West Belmont Ave) and we are delighted to have the harmonious talented voices of trio Foiled Again headlining and to welcome back the extraordinarily talented Donica Lynn. More acts to be announced soon, so check back for more info and you can buy your tickets from our site now here.

Tickets are only $20 (no booking fee) and all this goes to the vita work of the Natural Resources Defense Council who fight for the planet. More about them, here.

To raise money and highlight the work of MALDEF

We are back at UncommonGround in Edgewater for our first event after the summer break. Date for your diary is Monday September 18th, 1401 W Devon Ave, from 7pm. We are delighted to be working with MALDEF who are ‘the lawyers for the hispanic community’. Find out more about their work here.

More news to come soon about how to get tickets and who is in the show!

Our next event is to raise money and awareness for refugees and specifically for the organization RefugeeOne.

RefugeeOne creates opportunity for refugees fleeing war, terror, and persecution to build new lives of safety, dignity, and self-reliance. Every year, RefugeeOne serves more than 2,500 refugees and immigrants of all ages, ethnic groups, faiths, and backgrounds. Our primary focus is to assist these resilient individuals in becoming independent, self-supporting members of their new community.

They actively work with refugees to find housing, work, papers and safe and secure communities to live in. And we are delighted to be partnering with them.

We are holding a Benefit Evening at Stage 773 on Monday July 10th... more details to follow and you can read more about the extraordinary work of RefugeeOne here.

Our next wonderful benefit will be held on Monday June 12th back at Uncommon Ground in Edgewater. Show starts at 7:30pm but doors open at 7pm so you can get your seat and order drinks and food from your table.

Proceeds are going to the vital work of Equality Illinois who work tirelessly to advance equal treatment and social justice through education, advocacy and protection of the rights of the LGBT community.

The line up is coming together and we are excited to announce that our Emcee for the evening is the amazing Delia Kropp, a company member with Pride Films and Plays. Before gender transitioning, Delia Kropp trained in England and Chicago, and acted with a variety of Chicago companies including The Goodman, Red Twist, Griffin, Lifeline, and Pegasus Players. She won Best Supporting Actor for her work as Alan in “Equus” at Michigan’s renowned Boarshead Theatre. She has also directed a number of productions for Chicago storefront and educational institutions. Delia’s female acting career began with “Raggedy And” at Pride Films and Plays in 2016.

Check back here and on facebook for further announcements of the line up.

It's going to be an amazing night, but places are limited so make sure you buy your tickets ahead of time from here! (if you are industry use the code industry02 for $8 off).

Benefit evening to raise awareness and funds for Mental Health

We are going underground for our fifth event. We are delighted to be partnering with Erasing the Distance to raise money for the work they do in the community. The line up is still being finalized but tickets are available here and you can find out more about the vital work that Erasing the Distance do here.

With our successful NAACP February campaign behind us, we turn our attention to the ACLU (Illinois chapter) for March. Our goal is to raise awareness and funds for the critical work of the American Civil Liberties Union. We’ll be posting action points frequently (sign up for our newsletter above to keep in touch and make sure you follow our facebook feed). And continue to spread the word about what we do.

But the big news for the month is our next event which is shaping up to be our best yet.

It will be held on Monday, March 20 at La Taberna Tapas from 7pm, a delicious restaurant in the heart of UIC Village, just up from Maxwell Street. Joining us for an extravaganza of music and theatre is renowned novelist Irvine Welsh (Trainspotting) just in time for the release of the long-awaited sequel Trainspotting 2 (based on his novel Porno); the incredible voice of Isabel Quintero (fresh out of Porchlight's In the Heights); the distinguished Ross Lehman (a veteran of Broadway and a mainstay of the Chicago theater scene); the amazing Donica Lynn, artists from Griffin Theatre performing pieces from the highly anticipated In to America, and music from the sumptuous CoCo Sho-Nell. This is just a taste, more information to come, so make sure you snap up your tickets here and tell your friends and colleagues too.

Come for the ACLU, the incredible raffle prizes, and the entertainment; stay for the phenomenal sangria and octopus!